Environmentalist Meltdown

The brain trust over at Greenpeace must be having kittens over this news.

Belarus, Russia and Ukraine joined UN experts Tuesday in saying fears of radiation effects from the Chernobyl nuclear accident nearly two decades ago were exaggerated.

However, environmentalists protested that the experts' estimated eventual death toll of up to 4,000 people was much too low.

Kalman Mizsei, from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), told the UN-sponsored Chernobyl Forum that met in Vienna Tuesday: "For the vast majority of people, the fears associated with exposure to radiation from Chernobyl have been exaggerated.

"The damage, both to human health and natural environment, has been much smaller than commonly assumed," he said.

"People in the affected communities can, with very few exceptions, pursue normal lives," Mizsei told the forum, which brings together experts from eight UN agencies, as well as the governments of the main affected countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

Allow me to translate: the worst nuclear disaster in history turned out to be far less of an issue than they thought it was going to be. I bet the head of Greenpeace had an absolute meltdown when he heard this... Pun intended. He was probably so upset that he took a shower.